For much of the last two years, tensions have been elevated on the campus of Yale University, where students protested the Israel-Hamas war with signs, flags and encampments.
But the campus was relatively quiet following the long-awaited announcement of a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. A permanent ceasefire had been a cornerstone demand of Yale protesters.
On Friday, as the agreement took effect, Yale students said they felt a mix of relief and trepidation about how it would play out. Students said that on campus and online, there was little activity from their peers — on either side of the issue. Some advocates said they planned to continue their activism.
President Donald J. Trump brokered the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza after weeks of negotiations and help from Arab and Muslim allies. The war began after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, when militants killed around 1,200 people and abducted over 250 others. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, displaced most of the population of Gaza and leveled vast areas.
The conflict hit close to home for many students on higher education campuses in the United States, and protests have gripped college communities around the country since the fighting began. Yale was no exception.
Alex Greene, a Yale senior and president of the Peace and Dialogue Leadership Initiative — an educational fellowship that takes Yale and West Point students to Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem — said he’s not optimistic about peace prospects in the Middle East because the conflict is so entrenched.
“Some of the underlying problems are still not addressed,” Greene, who described himself as a political moderate, said. As a result, he said, he expects that “pro-Palestinian protests are not going away. It may not be about the war in Gaza, it may be about the West Bank or something else.”
Still, Greene said he’d seen “surprisingly little” online discourse about the ceasefire, except “maybe a few peers” posting about the return of hostages, specifically videos capturing celebrations in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv.
Yale senior Arjun Warrior, an organizer with Yale’s Endowment Justice Collective — which advocates for ethical distribution of university funds, and has recently researched ties between Yale and Israel — said pro-Palestinian student advocates “feel determined” and will “keep fighting.”
In a text message, Warrior said the collective remains focused on other long-term goals such as divestment from military weapons manufacturers. “I feel relief, but also grief and uncertainty. This ceasefire is far too late and may not last,” Warrior wrote.
Student protesters at the University of Connecticut also said the ceasefire would not put an end to their activism. A group known as UConn Divest said in a statement that it “understands the ‘ceasefire’ as nothing but empty words to refocus media attention.”
“So long as the people live under the harshest of conditions, we will continue to fight for them,” the group’s statement read.
On Wednesday, the day before the Israeli Cabinet approved Trump’s deal framework, student protesters staged a “die-in,” lying down on Yale’s Cross Campus green holding pictures of slain Palestinians.
Since the ceasefire went into effect, Yale’s pro-Palestinian activist groups have not posted publicly.
Roee Benya, a Yale junior from Israel, said he is cautiously optimistic about the ceasefire. “Obviously this is great news,” he said. “The most important thing for me as an Israeli is the hostages, bringing them back.”
Benya said he hasn’t seen any visible change at Yale relating to the ceasefire, but he said he thought there might be some next week when Hamas is expected to return the Israeli hostages.
“There has basically been a division in the Yale community between the Palestinian and Israeli camps, and it should have never been like that,” he said. “I hope that a ceasefire will naturally enable getting back to the framework of discussing this conflict.”
An Associated Press report is included in this story.